Vampire: Journey of the Ages

The world has found a beacon of hope in the vast desert wastelands of Mesopotamia. All roads lead to Babylon, and all peoples have found the 1 key that will unite mankind, Commerce. In the land of flowing waters, rich silks, and bountiful gold, a noble class has been born. Yet man must learn to live under the heel of the Gods of the Land. The Gods direct the people how they will, their intentions never known to the Will of Man. Some of these Gods are benevolent to mankind, some of them twisted and dark in their desires, expending souls with but a whim.

In this land of riches and opportunity, one man rose above all others, a man of ideals and honor; King Hammurabi. With his patron God Anu ever at his side, Hammurabi has formed a Codex of laws that give governance to all across the Babylonian Empire. Many ruthless nomads, and peoples of war have tried to come against Hammurabi, but his armies are vast and his legions strong.

Amidst the city lay the many temples for the Gods of Honor. Some of them walk openly amongst man, some lay hidden in Shadow. The great Magi call Babylon home as well, their tower ever rising into the sky, in hopes of traversing the heavens themselves. It is in this high monument that Hammurabi’s patron, Anu, dwells.

Yet it is also known that Anu has drifted from mankind to a degree. In this vacuum others have stepped in to fill the void. The most powerful of these is the God Enlil. He ravages the commoners, and fleeces the merchants. His wealth is vast, his power dominating. The people must come and bow to him. Though there are many whispers. Enlil is rarely seen, and when he is, it is only in the darks of night. There are rumors that the unfortunate, the destitute are taken here for foul rituals and for other dark purposes. Of all of those that enter his Temple, few ever return. It is deep in the dungeons of his Temple, far from the sight of man that our party begins. They are captive, shackled against their will, taken as slaves from their normal life. They believe their fate is certain, they are to be drained of life and cast as husks into the Euphrates, but if their will is strong, they may yet live…

Our pilgrims have journied from Edo and Saxony to Babylon to see and learn its mysteries. Unfortunately, they learned the harsh truth of this great city for outlanders; slavery.

Into the the Temple of Enlil, they were held captive, and then turned into creatures of the Night. Amatsukami made a quick escape, only to be sent back into the chambers by strange magnetism.

They were led to the Chamber of Enlil himself, who then used these slaves to fuel himself, discarding their drained corpses. The first night Amatsukami and Wofren survied the first night, the second night Amatsukami was taken to drain, but not fully, thus he lived.

Into the Chamber of Shemesh they were sent to be burned by the sun. With the help of Zaz and Sari, our party escapes and makes their way outside of Babylon to the Palace of Nergal, God of the Night Skies. Nergal and his assistant Malikai promise protection and power for sharing the diabolical machinations of Enlil with Innana, leader of the Blood Moon Codex.

Off to the Temple of Innana, and our party shares their tale. She watches over them for the night, and Amatsukami goes into mediation, while Wolfren indulges in Innana’s own pleasure palace.

The next night the “Gods of Babylon” have gathered. Our two make their way to the hanging gardens with Innana, and then take the opportunity to mingle with Rhiajj, Jasima (whom they will help save with her escape to Sumeria), and others. Finally, they are presented before the Blood Moon court, and Enlil. Somehow, their memories of their experience now are infused with images of Nergal corrupting their minds. It is determined that there are some discrepencies, so Enlil will not be punished. However, they do get to choose who to serve their Neonatal period under. After some discussion, they decide to travel with Ea, God of Wisdom, and a Mekhet of some renown.

Our adventure begins as our two kindred have a time of respite in the Temple of Enki. After refreshing and studying the ancient Stone Tablets of Wisdom, Ea meets with our party and charges them to find proper ghouls to administer their affairs.

With the help of a street-smart ghoul named Rashi, they make their way to the Bazarre of Hammurabi, where they find the great metalurgist Al-Sabir. Amatsukami makes the company of his huge Sumerian assistant Rorik, and with a swift test of skill, Amatsukami puts Rorik down in a lathe duel. Meanwhile, Wolfren and Al-Sabir experiment and find a way to melt ore.

Rorik is ghouled, and soon Al-Sabir will be as well. With another journey to the Sumerian underground, Wolfren ghouls Sietta, a former Priestess of Enlil that now controls the eldeberry trade in Babylon.

With a return to the Palace, our kindred meet with Ea, Tamuz, Dagon, Nimrod, Nazrahi, and Rador. They are told of the capture of Eneshkigal by the Necromancer Zavander of the desert. They must prove their worth and rescue Zavander. Both our kindred realize there is more afoot in this situation, but none-the-less they scout out the Corpsium at the Eastern Edge of town where they run into Sari the Nosferatu. They make arrangements to have Sari introduce them to Phascal.

They soon learn that Rashi is in fact under vinculum to Enlil, and was planning on selling them out to his henchmen. The ruse is over, they expose Rashi to Ea who destroys him. They then plot together to give Sari false information on Nergal.

Our party now plans to meet Phascal and the Dam’vriti, a meeting that could change the course of their destiny…

Our kindred awaken at the Temple of Ea and decide that they will put off the pursuit of the stolen Eneshkigal in order to meet with Phascall and the Dam’Vriti. Using Rorik’s knowledge of the city, our vampires are able to escape their pursuers, and then head south of the city to the Nomad camps where Phascall is hiding out. Sari takes them to this enigmatic kindred.

Phascall openly reveals his past misdeeds and his true ambitions to our party, revealing that he has learned some secret arts from a being named Pazuzu. Our party decides to chase down this lead in the Eastern deserts. After spending some days with Rhiajj, Sari, and Phascall, it is off to the Eastern Sands.

In the distance they see the Towers of Zavander, Nergal’s childe and Kindred assassin. After some time they come across a sacred totem of the Syr LaQal, a tribe of cannibalistic werewolves that inhabit the far reaches of Mesopotamia. After being challenged by the pack, Amatsukami steps up and takes on Syr Gadol, a massive Uratha bearing his fang daggers. In a back and forth tussle, Amatsukami finally manages to cleave Gadol’s left arm. Shamed and disgraced, his pack abandons him. In a bold and foolhearty move, Amatsukami shares blood with Gadol, putting both of them on the edge of frenzy for the remainder of the evening.

It is soon learned that the dead of Babylon are sent down an offshoot of the Euphrates to this Temple of Pazuzu where they are turned into foul zombies. Seeing nomads run for their lives, our party now questions their idea of seeking this God Pazuzu. Yet they push on.

The ride in nearly spells the end for Rorik and Wulfren, but at the last minute the Priest Unthis forces the undead to back off. The party descends on the Temple. Once within, it is learned that Pazuzu is a foul and dangerous infernal being. Yet negotiations are in order. His price simple, sneaking him into the city. In exchange he will grant strange and mysterious powers to Amatsukami and Wulfren. The terms finished, the Changeling named Black Ivy seals the deal with an Oath Binding.

They return to Babylon with Pazuzu smuggled away in a strange cube to avoid detection from Anu, the Patron God of Bablyon. Once within the city, however, all hell breaks loose. Anu and Pazuzu clash in a titanic war of crackling mystical energies and smouldering magma from the depths. In the end, Babylon is left petrified, and our kindred trapped in stone for the ages.

Time passes in a torporous hungered state, the years immeasurable. Finally, a strange Egyptian man, a Priest of Thoth named Tuk-Naten finds, awakens, and feeds our kindred. How will they adapt to this strange and advanced culture of Osiris and Ramses?

Our party awakens at the hands of Tuk-Naten, bleeding slaves over them. Once reanimated, they quickly realize they are in a strange new world. Taken to the Temple of Thoth in Memphis, they learn the tongue, and learn that Osiris and Isis rule the kindred here. However, Osiris’ sire is the ancient and diabolical Enlil. Coercing them with subtle manipulations, Thoth gets our party to help in his mysterious endeavors. However things take a bizarre twist when the cube of Pazuzu is within his confines. Wolfren, fearing the power of the cube, sets it back atop its altar. Amatsukami does not share these fears, and opens the gateway to the “Shards” of the Underworld. Pazuzu’s spirit can once again tough the Hisil, and he immediately enters the body of Thoth.

This dynamic trio now heads north via bark to the Egyptian capital of Al-Ramase. Set up at the Palace of the Lapis Scarab, our party quickly takes seats as Gods of a much older world. Using the Hebrew slaves, a throne room of deification is built. There is much consternation over the statues put in place, and it takes some time before Amatsukami believes the “posture” of his statue does not show hidden perversion to its onlookers.

A shadowy visitor arrives, a kindred of the Khaibit named Sari, who heralds our party to the Nile Delta where they meet the God of Chaos, Sutekh. Sutekh conspires with the two in order to overcome Osiris. In exchange for their help, he takes them to the Forge of Ptah where the masks of the Gods are made. Amatsukami chooses the mask of the Lion, while Wolfren chooses the mask of the Wolf.

When they return to the Palace they see a minor skirmish has broken out at its front wall. It seems Horus would test their Will and Strength; a challenge our party backs down from. They fall to slumber as Horus rides off triumphantly on his chariot…